Glenn Dyer’s TV ratings: a lacklustre night for all

Thursday nights are becoming a programming dead zone, if the last two weeks are anything to go by.

Bad luck Lisa Paton, but you are a star for the way you conducted yourself on Million Dollar Minute. It had 1.176 million national / 740,000 metro / 436,000 regional viewers. Apart from that sadness, it was the night the networks forgot. Except for Call The Midwife and a bog standard 7.30 on ABC1, it was a not very edifying night for viewers.

Ten did better because it programmed two hours of MasterChef — a cook-off and then a masterclass. The cook-off first part of the program rated more highly with 1.218 million national / 870,000 metro / 348,000 regional viewers. The second half averaged 868,000 national/ 629,000 metro/ 239,000 regional viewers until 9.40pm. Call The Midwife on ABC1 had 1.271 million national/ 840,000 metro / 381,000 regional viewers.

Apart from the now regular hour long episode of Home and Away, Seven was easily ignored last night, as was Nine, except for the oddities of The Footy Show which continues to fade away in Sydney. In Melbourne the AFL Footy Show was the equal sixth most-watched program (the best for seven weeks, according to Nine, but still a long way from being the most watched show in the city on Thursday nights). In Sydney the NRL version was the 19th most watched program. The program had 1.074 million national/ 722,000 metro/ 352,000 regional viewers.

Nine won the night from Seven, Ten and the ABC (with the viewing shares closer than for some time). Wake Up’s final week boom continued with another 44,000 metro viewers yesterday morning.

Network channel share:

Nine (28.0%)

Seven (25.8%)

Ten (20.3%)

ABC (19.2%)

SBS (6.7%)

Network main channels:

Nine (19.5%)

Seven (18.0%)

Ten (14.0%)

ABC1 (13.8%)

SBS ONE (5.2%)

Top digital channels:

GO (5.4%)

7mate (4.6%)

Eleven (3.6%)

7TWO (3.3%)

ABC2 (3.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

Nine News — 1.621 million

Seven News — 1.614 million

Home and Away (Seven) — 1.484 million

Call The Midwife (ABC1) — 1.271 million

MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 1.218 million

Million Dollar Minute (Seven) — 1.176 million

ABC News — 1.154 million

A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.093 million

Border Security International (Seven) — 1.087 million

Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.084 million

Top metro programs:

Seven News — 1.229 million

Nine News — 1.104 million

Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.083 million

Losers: The night generally, except for Million Dollar Minute and Call the Midwife.Metro news and current affairs:

I can’t believe you left out the “highlight” of last night’s viewing Glen.
Tony Jones on Lateline, interviewing a “writer” on the important issue of Jesus, the historical figure.
I’m never sure what to think when someone poses the question.